Cat's Cradle

Tony Roberts has a plummy voice touched with petulance. This tone was appropriate when he played the hapless good-looking friend in early Woody Allen movies. The undertone of disappointment is also apt for this beloved first novel by Kurt Vonnegut. CAT'S CRADLE was published in 1963. The hero is named Jonah, and the news is always bad. The world doesn't end with a bang, or a whimper. It ends with Ice Nine and a rueful chuckle. Vonnegut's own voice--roughed by a million cigarettes--is heard in an interview tacked on at the end. "My dying words are 'Life is no way to treat an animal,'" he said, and then he laughed. The great-hearted pessimist of American literature died in 2007 at the age of 84. B.H.C. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

December 24, 2007
Vonnegut's 1963 satirical science fiction novel still manages to pack a powerfully subversive punch. The new audio release offers listeners an excellent opportunity to connect—or reconnect—with a classic text whose thematic elements—nuclear terror, the complications of science, American imperialism, global capitalism and the role of religion in public life—are remarkably relevant to our 21st-century landscape. The story line centers on a young writer's quest to research the history of the atomic bomb, which leads to a bizarre political soap opera and apocalyptic showdown on the shores of a seedy banana republic in the Caribbean. Tony Roberts brings tremendous energy to his reading, projecting a sardonic tone perfectly suited to Vonnegut. His portrayals of the principal male figures sometimes take the form of interchangeable over-the-top carnival barkers, but given the essence of the material, such a unnuanced approach can be understood and appreciated. The audiobook includes a 2005 interview in which Vonnegut—who died April 11, 2007—discusses how his life shaped his literary craft.